Research has yet to investigate trajectories of sensitivity to threat across childhood and adolescence. Further, neural associations of these trajectories remain unknown. The current 3-year study used a latent class growth curve analysis to investigate whether there were distinct trajectories of sensitivity to threat among children and adolescents over time (N = 363; age range at Time 1 = 8–14). We also examined whether alpha asymmetry (a neural index of motivational tendencies) was associated with the different trajectories. Results revealed three distinct trajectory groups (1) high-stable sensitivity to threat, (2) moderate-increasing sensitivity to threat and (3) low-stable sensitivity to threat. The high-stable sensitivity to threat group had greater right frontal asymmetry activation (i.e., greater neural avoidance motivation) than the other two groups. Additionally, females, those with higher parental education, and individuals with more advanced pubertal development (but not age) had greater odds of being part of the high-stable sensitivity to threat group compared to the other groups. Of interest, puberty rather than age may be an important indicator of heightened sensitivity to threat.

尚无研究调查儿童和青少年对威胁的敏感性轨迹。此外，这些轨迹的神经关联仍然未知。当前的三年研究使用潜伏类增长曲线分析来调查儿童和青少年随时间推移对威胁的敏感性是否存在明显的轨迹（N = 363; 时间1的年龄范围= 8-14）。我们还检查了alpha不对称性（动机倾向的神经指标）是否与不同的轨迹相关。结果显示了三个不同的轨迹组：（1）对威胁的高稳定敏感性，（2）对威胁的中度增加，以及（3）对威胁的低稳定性。与其他两组相比，对威胁组的高稳定敏感性具有更大的右额叶非对称性激活（即更大的神经回避动机）。此外，与其他群体相比，女性，具有较高的父母文化素养的人以及青春期发育更高级（而不是年龄）的个体更有可能成为对威胁群体高稳定敏感性的一部分。有趣的是，青春期而非年龄可能是提高对威胁的敏感性的重要指标。